"What I do know is that Iran is an outlaw state and Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism, that Iran harbors terrorists and was in cahoots with al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden since the 1990s," he added.

Al-Jubeir also claimed that al-Qaeda's "virtual board of directors" fled to Iran in 2002 and have been directing terror operations from the country ever since.

The foreign minister was himself the subject of a failed assassination attempt by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, but denied that his criticism of Tehran is in any way personal.